In order to aid diagnosis and treatment of cancers and other serious diseases, reliable staining and coverslipping is vital for processing these specimens. At Cheltenham General Hospital in the UK, the need for optimised workflow in this area had never been greater with 143000 Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) stains carried out in the pathology laboratory last year. When the workload finally reached the extent that additional capacity was required, Cheltenham began looking at their options, and finally after trials of three different company’s instruments, they chose Thermo Scientific’s Gemini AS autostainer with the ClearVue coverslipper.
A case study has been published that describes the train of events leading to the purchase and the findings of Cheltenham General Hospital after using the new instrumentation. This study is available from their local distributors Labotec on email elmab@labotec.co.za or you can contact your nearest Labotec branch. In this article you can find out why Cheltenham, after using the Gemini and ClearVue won’t recommend a combined unit; how they are saving over 25% on reagents; how they are accommodating “urgent” sample staining and now meet the required throughput time for 100% of biopsies and why should their workload increase in the future they would have no problem in going for another Gemini.
The Gemini features five heaters, 26 reagent pots and intelligent software to automatically optimise reagent layout and maximise throughput even with multiple racks and protocols. The ClearVue coverslipper is capable of managing up to eleven slide racks simultaneously, and can handle both histology and cytology slides without user intervention.
